One-year bump in new coding system go-live provides hospitals a unique opportunity to leverage a full array of supplemental staffing options

MADISON, Wis. – Oct. 16, 2012 – Amphion Medical Solutions, an innovative provider of transcription and coding technology and outsourcing services, is poised to help hospitals and healthcare organizations meet the critical staffing challenges predicted to occur in tandem with the coming ICD-10 transition. Recently delayed to Oct. 1, 2014, the new deadline for converting to the expanded coding system provides hospitals with a unique opportunity to identify innovative approaches to proactively address anticipated staffing gaps created by the increased demand for services.

“The healthcare industry is facing a shortage of nearly 70,000 coders in the coming years, and hospitals that expect to meet the ICD-10 challenge should already be taking steps to address workforce demand,” said Mike Cavill, chairman and co-founder, Amphion Medical Solutions. “Amphion understands these challenges and has packaged a full array of options that cover strategies for both internal staff expansion and third-party outsourcing to meet needs.”

The magnitude of the ICD-10 transition—which expands the number of diagnosis and procedure codes from 17,000 choices to 141,000—is one factor contributing to increased coder demand that industry estimates predict will lead to shortages of 30% to 50% nationwide. Further escalating the problem is a growing aging population that will require more healthcare services and more extensive medical care, alongside an aging coder workforce that may choose to retire rather than invest time in learning the new coding system.

To counter these trends, Amphion offers a comprehensive package of coding solutions, starting with overflow services and extending to full outsourcing. Services can be designed to cover long-term contracts or work on a project-by-project basis to alleviate costly backlogs that can delay billing and reimbursement processes in hospitals. Amphion also provides ICD-10 training programs that include pre- and post-assessment tools to identify staff knowledge gaps and ensure readiness.

To further develop in-house coding resources, Amphion offers turn-key and customizable training programs to cross-train and transition complementary staff functions to coding. In particular, transcriptionists can be a great resource pool to draw from as a closely-aligned function that is currently facing the opposite problem—downsizing. Training programs can be provided onsite or remotely with one of the company’s coding educators leading the classes and are backed by 100% quality monitoring that ensures 95% accuracy.

About Amphion Medical Solutions

Founded in 2001, Amphion Medical Solutions (www.amphionmedical.com) delivers complete services and technology solutions to meet healthcare clients’ transcription and coding needs. With extensive healthcare expertise and leading-edge technology, Amphion leverages the proven benefits of transcription and coding outsourcing and provides organizations with the technology they need to manage an in-house transcription team. Featured products include Triton, a speech understanding transcription platform, and Themis, a remote coding solution.